What is the best method to calculate my home's value before actually getting an appraisal?

Zillow.com.. Do a search for sold properties within the last 90 days, and see how they compare to yours.. that's one way.. your county assessor's office will sometimes show recent solds in your sub division.. you can also contact a local real estate agent and ask for a value.. I'm a Broker here in Scottsdale AZ and I only lend in Arizona. If you or someone you know is looking for financing options, feel free to contact me or pass along my information. 480-287-5714 WilliamAcres.com

There are several means of ascertaining the approximate value of your home; all of which will give you a reasonable expectation of what your home may appraise for. Zillow.com, Realtor.com, BPO (broker's price opinion), and depending on your county, the assessed value. Getting a general idea of your home's value is not difficult. Look at the sales price and/or sold price of homes (3 to 5) within your immediate area (0 to 10 miles or further out if a rural area) divided by the square footage which gives you a price per square foot. Multiply the average price by the square footage of your home, and that will give you a ROUGH estimate of your home's value. By no means will any of these suggestions be 100% accurate because there are too many variables to consider when comparing one property to another.I wouldn't consider paying for an appraisal a "waste of money". If your home has decreased in value, depending on your current type of loan, you may still be able to refinance and get out of the ever dreaded mortgage insurance.

Avoid like the flu online resources like Zillow and Trulia. While they are popular, they are far from accurate. Your best bet is to contact a Real Estate Agent friend and have them do a CMA. This is the exact same thing they would do if you were selling your house to determine the sale price.

My favorite site that is free is the Chase Home Estimator. It will never be exact, but should give you an idea.. https://www.chase.com/online/Home-Lending/home-value-estimator.htm

My favorite site is the Chase Home Estimator. It is free to use, and should give you an idea. These online search sites are never perfect and will only give you an idea based upon recent sales. Good luck, and here is the link.https://www.chase.com/online/Home-Lending/home-value-estimator.htm

It's all about comparable sales. Look at Realtor.com and type in the property specifics to get an idea of the offer prices. Houston area is doing well right now. You might look at no appraisal options to see if you can drop PMI. Call if you need help we service your area.

Fist thing you want to do is call your servicer and see what they will take as a valuation model to get rid of the PMI whether it be a BPO, Apparsal or tax assessment and Remember these words " Realtors Set a Price and Appraisers determine Value" and they are two very distinct differences. With all the online choices given for Zillow, Chase, Broker Paid Opinion (BPO from a Realor), all of them are only an estimate and not a determination of value. You might be close but I just had a client who knew a Realtor that was told his house was worth a solid $355k with all the comps in a stable affluent neighborhood while Zillow and Chase had the house even higher at $375K and $380K. Well, 2 appraisals later both of then came in at only $240K and $245K!! An appraiser Determines Value and that house is worth right now only $245K. To Drop the PMI you need to prove to the lender the property has 20% equity so you need to find out from the lender what they will accept. Hopefully they will take a tax assement and yours will have enough value, if not, get a BPO or an appraisal but those both are going to cost you between $300-$500.

Check with your lender first. Many PMI contracts are required to be released when the balance is reduced to 78% of the original sales price, and you have no late payments in the last 12 to 24 months.

Try Zillow.com , Realtor.com or have a BPO done by a realtor, all of these will give you an estimate of value. Before you go ahead and send the money for appraisal make sure your lender will not want one of there own appraiser to value your property.

You should call the realtor that sold you your house. Ask them to run a CMA on your property. You made them a nice amount of commission when you purchased it, so they should be nice enough to do this for you for free. It should only take them 5 minutes.

There are a lot of different opinions in this thread and all of them have merritt. You should use ALL of them to see what the range is for the different opinions of value. However,NONE of those opinons of value will matter. Ultimately, you WILL need to have the house appraised before an accurate LTV can be determined.